Cindy's Entry
Trip Start
Feb 02, 2007
1
3
18
Trip End
Mar 30, 2007
Porto Novo,
Benin
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
First thanks to all of you who have written its nice to hear from you....your comments makes all of us feel a little closer to home. keep them coming.....
So an update.....
The group has been split up in two parts 6 in Cotonu and 5 in Porto Novo. Us splitting up was always known but we didn't know who was going where to the night before. Splitting up was a little difficult becasue we had just spent two weeks straight together and the group that stayed in Cotonu thought they were going to Porto Novo and vice a versa. Where the groups ended up was descided by the fact that the 4 people from YCI had in thier contract stated that they can not ride on motorcycle
Cindy's Room
. Well I guess YCI didn't realise that in Benin tourists main and only form of transportation is taxi motos, or as they are known here 'kekenon'. So at first they thought Porto Novo would be best for them since they may be able to walk everywhere or get a taxi more easily but in fact in ended up being the reverse. No car taxi is availabe in Porto Novo so YMCA and Club 2/3 participants are mainly here in Porto Novo. Sam from YMCA is no longer with Dana and I, they wanted to keep the groups a little balanced with different organizations. So the new Porto Novo group is the following: Alexander, Olivier, Genevieve, Dana and Me (Cindy)!If you havn't caught on by the names my group has 3 francophones so Dana and I will be definitly only ever be speaking french! It gets a little frustrating sometimes as I can't express myself the way I would like however, I'm definitly improving my french! Im also glad their here because all the work we do is in french and I'm positive the quality of the work without them would not be the same.
On Wednesday we arrived in Porto Novo, met our families, and met the mangement staff of Action Social. The executive Director of Action Social is Eugene. He's an awsome man, very friendly, seems kind and very in-tune with the community he works with
Eugene, Executive Director of Action Sociale
. I can tell he is loved by his staff. He took us out on Wed for dinner and has been a awsome host since. Thursday he spent all day trucking us around to ensure we called home, changed money, learned where the good internet cafe is and ingeneral has talked to us about Porto Novo and Benin issues. We are quite happy as many of us felt that this was something that should have been done with us in Cotonu. So as you can imagine I feel more at ease here. It also helps that it isn't as polluted or congested, so the climate is much more tolorable. The family Im staying with is great! Mireille(25) is the young lady that is hosting me, she works for the childrens office of Action social. In my host family I live with her mother Damienne, Alain (20 yrs), Nicole (15yrs). Their brother Joseph is on holidays here with his family of 3 for the next two weeks, generally he lives in Nigeria. Joseph has a little baby named Winnans who is 4 months old and hes adorable! Its exciting to have him here as its preparing me for my future nephew; So as you see I'm in a big family but everyone of them is very hospitable and nice. Its nice that I have young family members as it gives me a chance to learn about what the Benin youth do and think.
My room is fairly comfortable, I will try to post a picture sometime soon however the bathroom is definitely different and requires some getting used to. The food continues to be not much of a problem for me however I miss eating rice. Generally sidedishes are mashed Maise or yams with sauce. I learned yesterday rice is much more expensive here. Haven't really been sick yet, however I am home sick!
So what are we doing? Really its only become clear this week
Ladies of the family
. We will be part of a youth forum for youth aganist AIDS and HIV that will take place during the week of Feb 19 when the youth are on a break. Our job is to speak to the principals and recruit the kids for the forum. On Sat. Feb.17 we will meet with the Beninois youth against AIDS group to learn more about AIDS and Benioise beleifs. There will also be an AIDS conference in mid March that our group will help plan and execute. Thats an overall summary of what we're doing, but there is much more. Our work day usually starts at 8:30 or 9 am till 1pm. Then we start again at 3 or 4 till 6pm.An important message to relay is that communication here (cell phones, internet, home phones, computer keyboards) are in no ways the same!. Everything takes twice as long if not more!!!! frustrating!!!!Anyways hope everyone is well and hope to write again soon.
Cindy
